Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=3/14/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BUSH / IRAQ (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-314104

BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Bush administration is marking Friday's one-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq with a weeklong series of high-profile speeches and broadcast interviews. V-O-A's Paula Wolfson reports three of the president's top advisors on Iraq spoke out Sunday in appearances on American television.

TEXT: All three stressed that one year after the invasion of Iraq, the world is a safer place.

White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told N-B-C's Meet the Press that Iraq under Saddam Hussein posed a greater threat than North Korea.

///RICE ACT///

I believe to this day that it was an urgent threat. This could not go on and we are safer as a result because today Iraq is no longer going to be a state of weapons of mass destruction concern.

///END ACT///

In a subsequent interview on A-B-C's This Week, Secretary of State Colin Powell defended the information used to justify the invasion. He strongly denied the Bush administration exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq, even though no weapons of mass destruction have been found.

///POWELL ACT///

We may not find the stockpiles. They may not exist any longer. But let's not suggest that somehow we knew this. We went to the United Nations, we went to the world, with the best information we had. Nothing was cooked.

///END ACT////

Secretary Powell emphasized progress in Iraq over the last year, and noted the country is taking steps toward democracy with a transfer to Iraqi sovereignty scheduled for the end of June. Speaking on the C-B-S program Face the Nation, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld emphasized the country is on the right track, noting the rapid increase in Iraqis joining their new national security force.

///RUMSFELD ACT///

We are making very good progress with respect to the Iraqi security forces. There are over 200 thousand Iraqis that have been trained and equipped and deployed and out providing security. There are more Iraqi security forces being killed than coalition forces.

///END ACT///

President Bush will personally mark the one year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq with a speech Thursday at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. On Friday, he will visit with wounded soldiers at an army hospital and will address the ambassadors of countries that have contributed to the U-S-led coalition that invaded both Iraq and Afghanistan. (signed)

NEB/PW/RH